A Get-Away Car and a Red-Eye Flight
by FromTheAeroplaneOverTheSea
Summary: A bankrupt businessman, an ex-pilot, a burnt-out ex-druggie, the son of madman, the illegitimate daughter of a billionaire, a girl who burnt down a whole city, one of the smartest teens in all of Europe, and a boy who technically doesn't exist walk into a museum and pull off one of the greatest heists in the history of mankind.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** So, welcome to my first story on here! Chapter one will involved a Nyotalia Lithuania (Lina) and an OC that represents the country of Georgia (Maia), along with a few regular canon characters (Eduard, Raivis, Ivan, Gilbert, Ludwig, and Alfred). Rating is currently T for the whole fic, but might be bumped up later. Please review and tell me what you think!

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><p><strong>January 1st, 2015<strong>

**The Laurinaitė-von Bock-Galante house, Tallin, Estonia**

**3:06 AM**

Eduard von Bock awoke at three in the morning to the sound of his phone ringing. By virtue, three am phone calls were never good, especially at the start of the new year. If he was superstitious, he would have been worried. But Eduard wasn't superstitious and never would be. One early morning phone call from an unidentified number with a New York calling code was not necessarily bad news, especially in his line of business. Most people wouldn't answer a call from a number they didn't recognize, but Eduard couldn't imagine answering phone calls any other way.

"Hello?" He said into the phone, his English more accented than he would have preferred it to be.

"Ed," the voice began on the other side, the voice he recognized as his older sister. "I really hope you haven't spent the money I left in the second drawer of your desk, because you might have to buy a plane ticket to New York. And by might, I mean almost certainly."

"You left money in the second drawer of my desk?" He asked into the phone, grabbing his glasses from his nightstand and stumbling out of his bed to turn on the lights. "And why do I need a plane ticket?"

"We got a job. All of us. Raivis is here with me, don't worry, but we need you over here as soon as you can get here. And of course I left you money, I wasn't going to let you run out in case the Warsaw thing went bad." Lina explained from the other side of the world.

"How did that go, by the way? I think the last thing you said about it involved expired lighter fluid and mildly homicidal bears." The Estonian asked as he opened the drawer he normally never used only to find a credit card and a bunch of Euros. "Lina, how much money is this?"

"Warsaw went better than expected. Shockingly enough, nobody got mauled by bears." Even though she was thousands of kilometers away, he could see her smiling and shaking her head as she thought of it. He knew his sister well enough to know what faces she would make. "And it should be more than enough. I'm sorry to call at this time, it must be super early over there, but it's an important job. I can't tell you much about it over the phone."

"Understandable. How much will I need to pack?" He grabbed his suitcase from under his bed and opened it. Already, he had a week's worth of clothes in there for situations like this, situations that called for sudden departures and arrivals.

"However much you can grab. Three weeks worth of clothes, maybe four? Pack for every and anything." Lina told him, and he nodded.

"Every and anything, any and everything. On it. So, I'll see you soon?"

"I'll see you soon. Love you."

"I love you too." Eduard said into the phone. As he grabbed another suitcase, this one from his closet, he began to calculate time. The first ferry to Helsinki would leave at seven in the morning, and would take two hours. It would take him ten minutes to find the airport, thirty to get through security and get a ticket, and he would wait something like twenty minutes before getting on a flight to New York. Not including layovers, it would take him ten hours to get to New York.

"Well," he said out loud as he packed. "Thank god for coffee."

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><p><strong>January 1st, 2015<strong>

**The skies above New York, United States**

**10:35 PM**

Eduard let out a sigh of relief when the plane landed. He was throughly exhausted from the whole ordeal of boats and planes and layovers, and was reminded why he hated traveling so much. He liked seeing different things, but the actual act of dealing with money exchanges and tourists made him want to tear out his hair.

He glanced around at the people on this flight. There were only six people who had been with him since the last layover, and they had all ended up near eachother. A married couple with a child was in the row in front of him, and the child had been crying non-stop since Reykjavik. Coincidentally (or perhaps not so coincidentally), he had his headphones in since Reykjavik. There was an old woman next to him that had been with him all the way since Helsinki who was simple and sweet and fell asleep on both his shoulder and the shoulder of the German guy next to her multiple times. He was a blond who looked like he could wring Eduard's neck without breaking a sweat, and the albino guy next to him (Eduard presumed they were brothers from how they talked to each other) looked eerily familiar, but he couldn't figure out why. More than once, he looked over at him and tried to think. Where had he seen that face before? Who was that person? It was driving him crazier than the crying baby.

The pilot announced that they could now take out their phone, and he took it out almost immediately. Maybe the albino and his brother worked with Lina before he got involved with the world of heists, but not knowing was bugging him. He took a sneaky photo and sent it to Raivis. _Just landed in NYC. Do you know these guys? They seem familiar, but I don't know why._

As the passengers left the plane starting with first class, he got a reply from Raivis_. Guy on the far left is gilbert beilscmidt, think the guy next to him is his brother. he sold out lina in frankfurt. remember? what r u doing on a plane with him?_

He rubbed his eyes and re-read the message, making sure he was reading it properly. But yes, that was it. He had been in a plane with the Beilschmidt brothers for six hours. Once, this wouldn't have been unusual. They worked with Lina for two years (well, it had been just Gilbert at that point in time), and both had been to his house more than once. This was back when he was young enough not to know, to think that all those times that she was gone that she was on school field trips. He thought that they were her school friends, even if she sometimes didn't seem to like them very much. Then Frankfurt happened and she came home after months and months of being gone, and she looked at them with the saddest eyes he had ever seen and explained the best she could. Ever since then, he had been in this life. If not for Gilbert Beilschmidt, he would have lived normally. Eduard was not a hateful person, but he hated Gilbert very much, even though he had forgotten his face after so many years.

After a second of contemplating his own stupidity, his row was let off of the plane. He walked through the tunnel that lead to the airport in a confused daze, his eyes set on the back of Gilbert Beilschmidt's shoulder blades and wondering if he could glare holes through them if he had the laser addition to his glasses that he had for a museum job in Moscow last year. Sure, it ended with him accidentally burning his temple, but it might be worth it for this.

Once he got through customs, which was a long and irritating process that he managed to stay patient through, he went over to baggage. Standing at the terminal were people with signs that had various names on them. To his surprise, his name was on one of the signs. Eduard von Bock was written in girlish script, and holding the sign was a girl about his age, maybe a year or two younger. He had never seen her before in his life.

He approached with caution, occasionally double checking to ensure that there were no other Eduard von Bocks. When he finally got close to her, she put the sign down and smiled at him. It was the sort of smile that reminded him of the movie stars he sometimes saw on TV, the ones that were so bright that it was almost unreal. She had inky black hair that was long and straight and somewhat mesmerizing, and he counted no less than ten guys and three girls staring at her.

"Eduard von Bock, I assume? If not, you're an awfully good impersonator." She said, extending her hand. He shook it after wondering who on Earth this girl was.

"You assumed right. And may I ask who you are?" He returned, trying to keep up a facade of regular old politeness instead of apprehensive and slightly fearful politeness.

"Maia Dadiani. We'll be working together for a bit. Your siblings are driving over here. Raivis texted me about a minute ago saying that they were five minutes away and to avoid any albino guys. Poor sucker's gonna have a heart attack when he realizes that we're working with an albino guy." She chuckled as she walked towards the area that promised would contain his luggage, along with the luggage of everyone else who was on his flight.

"Wait, we're working with the Beilschmidts?" Eduard looked over at them as he followed. The two were standing next to a taller and even more imposing guy wearing a scarf and a long coat and speaking German that he was too far away to clearly distinguish.

"Yeah. Why, you have some beef with them?" She seemed nonplussed by his worry, waving at a group staring at her with a knowing smirk as they got to the carrousel of luggage and waited.

"Oh, nothing big. It's just that Gilbert sold my sister to the mafia five-no, wait, it would be six now- yeah, six years ago. Gilbert sold my sister to the mafia six years ago after they had worked together for two years. Not the sort of fellow I'd like to work with. But other than that little thing, no issue at all." He scoffed before continuing on. "Also, please don't tell Lina that I told you. She doesn't like to talk about it, and frankly, neither do I. I just thought you should know if we're all going to work together." Eduard spoke all of this in quiet, clipped Russian that if her accent was any hint, she already knew.

Maia seemed to understand because she nodded and looked almost sad for a minute before returning to her normal facial expression, a cross between flirty and exasperated that somehow worked for her and made it look like she doubted everything she saw. "This'll be interesting then. Come on, they're probably waiting for us. We aren't meeting up with the Beilschmidts and Ivan until we get to the parking lot so that according to airport security, we've never seen each other. Alfred's at the house, so no worries about finding him. Now kiss me, we're supposed to be a stereotypical happy teenage couple. It's also the signal to Ivan that you're filled in." She replied back, and he stared in shock.

He normally was behind the scenes, not kissing virtual strangers as a signal. This wasn't what he did. He hacked into systems and shut out cameras and found bank account numbers, not walk through airports with people he didn't know and kiss them in front of everyone. But it was an order and Maia was beautiful and he wanted to see his family as soon as he could, so Eduard grabbed his bags, put them down, tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, and kissed her like he meant it. He was somewhat new to the world of kissing, but she seemed to know what she was doing so he followed her lead until it ended.

"Not half bad." She commented, grabbing his free hand. "Could be improved upon, but overall, not half bad. Trust me, I've kissed a helluva lot worse, even if you do taste like airline food."

"That's all I've eaten all day." He defended as she handed him a piece of gum from her purse. Eduard wasn't exactly sure what to think of her yet. She was a little bit of a nutcase, but almost everyone he knew was a little bit of a nutcase.

"And it shows. Now we just have to get out of-Oh my, I'm so sorry, sir!" Halfway through her sentance, she bumped into one of the people who had been staring at her. If he hadn't been trained to do the same thing, he wouldn't have noticed that she took his wallet and subtly slipped it into her own pocket. He muttered something Eduard couldn't hear before continuing on.

"Did you just-"

"Yes, I did. What? You're looking at me like you're not a criminal either. He was staring at my ass, which I normally wouldn't care about, but he's _married_. Didn't you see his wedding ring? And he was on the phone with his wife, saying he was just on a business trip, but did you see the girl who was getting her luggage next to him? Obviously his mistress. He can't even stay loyal to his _mistress_ for Christ's sake! Asshole was practically begging for me to steal his wallet." Maia kept her hand in his as they walked out and head to the parking lot. He didn't know which car he was looking for, but Maia seemed to know because she lead him towards a mammoth of an SUV, black and glittering slightly under the opened the door to the back and he followed her in after putting his luggage in the trunk.

Lina was in the driver's seat, and she turned around to look at them. "Ed! How're you doing? I heard of some storms in Ottawa and thought you weren't going to make it."

He gave her half of a smile, too tired to muster more of one. "I must've just missed them. And I'm good, but awfully tired. Hey, did Raivis tell you abou-"

"Yes." She interrupted, sighing and running her fingers through her hair. "And I'm going to have to have a...Oh, what's it called...a conversation? Yeah, I think so. I'm going to have to have a _conversation_ with both of them. And improve my English."

"Poor bastards." Maia said as she sat down in between Raivis and Eduard, fixing her hair in the mirror. "You look like you want to skin them alive."

"That would be kinder than they deserved." Lina muttered, shaking her head. "Of all the people in the world, they're who he chooses?"

Raivis, who had stayed silent through all of this, finally spoke up. "It seems so."

The silence would have enveloped the car if not for the arrival of the aforementioned people. The trunk opened and let in the bitterly cold air and Eduard caught the tail end of a conversation.

"But I'm the driver! That means I should drive." Gilbert said, and Ivan shook his head.

"I'm not having you wreck my car, da? I know how you drive. Fast, but dangerously. Only I drive this car." He explained as he closed the trunk.

"Then who's the bitch in the driver's seat?" That made Lina turn towards them sharply, the profile of her face visable. "Oh. Shit." Gilbert retracted.

"Oh shit. Yeah, oh shit." She muttered as they got in the car, going in the back of the back, right by the luggage. Ivan stopped at the driver's side and looked in at the Lithuanian.

"You've driven enough, I think. Hard work for someone used to taking the trains. Plus, this city is confusing." Ivan noted, and Lina got out of the car and went around to the passenger side without complaint and without a word of agreement. She was dead silent. Eduard watched her with worry, and Raivis kept looking between his two siblings, the brothers in the back, and the man driving the car. The only person he didn't look at was Maia.

"Sooooo..." Gilbert began, only to get smacked on the head by his brother. The ride back to the house was spent in silence. Sometime in that silence, between traffic lights and the odd feeling that came with the realization that he was taller than the man he was once afraid of, Eduard von Bock laid his head against the window and fell asleep. He would not remember it the next day, but he was awoken by his brother and led to his room by the girl he kissed and watched steal a stranger's wallet. He didn't even get under the covers before he went under again.

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><p><strong>January 1st, 2015<strong>

**Jones Estate, New York, United States**

**11:16 PM**

After Raivis and Maia had gone to their rooms and Ludwig had been shown to his, Ivan sat down with Lina and Gilbert after ensuring that Alfred Jones was fast asleep on the couch.

"Now, listen to me closely. I will not repeat myself. I know that you two were once good friends, da? You taught her to steal, and you taught him how to work with people. Good combination. Even with your rough history, good combination. I know all the details of what happened, why it happened, and who was involved. Despite that, I hired you two to work together. Do you know why?" Ivan asked, looking at his two employees who were currently as far from each other as they could get in the small kitchen.

"Because you're trying to get me killed?"

"No. Try again, Gilbert."

"Because you're really dumb?"

"Also no, Gilbert."

"Because you're bored and want drama and soaps just aren't doin' it for ya anymore?"

"Let me just tell you. Because before this nonsense in Frankfurt, you two were the best two-man team in the business. Perhaps in the history of the business. And I think that with enough effort, you two can work together and pull off this job. I will tell you more about it tomorrow, but it is not easy. It requires the best, and that is why you are here. All of the people I have gathered are the best of the best, and the money I will give to you if you are successful is quite a large amount. So, you two will work together, da?" Ivan gave them each a smile, although there was a hint of malice behind it.

"Da." Lina repeated, picking at her fingers and not looking at either of the men.

"Alright." Gilbert said, rolling his eyes. Ivan then left the kitchen, ruffling the hair of both of them on his way out.

Once the Russian was out of earshot and eyesight, Gilbert looked at her properly. The last time he had seen her, she was a skinny thirteen-year-old on the verge of tears, begging for him not to go through with it, not to let them take her. But Gilbert had owed the big boss a person after he accidentally got his son killed, and he asked for someone young. Fresh faced. Sweet. Pretty. Someone who would listen to orders. And somebody important to him, so that he would feel the loss. That narrowed it down to Ludwig or Lina, and he knew Lina was more likely to escape. So he had handed her over with no time left to explain it.

She looked different now. Lina had always been a tall kid and had grown even taller, to the point that she was just an inch shorter than him. Her hair was longer and a bit lighter now, and something about the way she carried herself had changed. This was not the skinny kid he had betrayed in Frankfurt. This was a woman, grown and beautiful and very angry.

"Before you say something stupid, let me say something. I don't care why you did what you did. I don't care what you've done since. I don't care about what happened. But let me make a few things clear to you. I get that you most likely didn't have a choice in what you did. I also forgive you for it. I was a kid, but so were you, and so I forgive you. But I don't trust you, and if you pull what you did then on me again, or on my brothers, or even on Alfred and Maia, I will end you. Am I clear?" She glared at him, arms crossed and leaning against the counter.

"Crystal." Gilbert said. He wished he could tell her that he was different, that he was sorry, that he had hated himself for it for years afterwards, and still hated himself for it now. But she was upset and tired, so he let her walk away and cracked open a beer from the fridge before heading off to bed himself. He didn't sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: Welcome to chapter two! Like I said earlier, reviews are appreciated and there are no warnings on this chapter except for some strong language. This will be edited later, but not to the point that it's unrecognizable.

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><p><strong>January 2nd, 2015<strong>

**Jones Estate, New York, United States**

**9:36 AM**

For the third day in a row, Lina Laurinaitė woke up to the sun. She opened her eyes and it was there, shining through her window and burning her eyes, making her squint and turn away before rolling out of bed. On any normal job, she would have gotten properly dressed and not left her room until she was perfectly cheerful and agreeable, but Alfred insisted that she be relaxed since this was his house and Ivan insisted that she be at breakfast as soon as possible so that they could go over the details of the job with everyone. So she washed her face, brushed her hair quickly, and left the room in her Lithuanian National Basketball tee shirt and a worn out pair of jeans without thinking twice about it.

As she made her way into the kitchen, she saw that about half of the house was there. Maia was glaring at the coffee machine, willing it to work faster. Eduard was half-asleep as he read a book that Lina couldn't determine the title of. Ludwig was eating a piece of toast and looking deeply uncomfortable. A fairly normal set up for the people here, or so she figured. She didn't know enough about Maia or Ludwig to know what was normal for them. Not wanting to think of their lives much more, she started her search for a cup.

"Third cabinet over, right by the window. And since you're up, can you get that curtain? The light is absolutely killing my head." Maia announced, putting her head in her hands for emphasis. Lina obliged, shutting the curtain and grabbing a mug. She sat down in between Eduard and Ludwig, tapping her fingers on the edge of the mug.

"You're a saint." The tired girl proclaimed as the coffee machine let out a mechanical beep, indicating that it was finished. All four people popped up, eager for something to wake them from their tired stupors. Maia was at the machine first and filled her glass to the brim before adding more sugar than Lina previously thought one human could consume. Then it was Eduard's turn, and she watched him add a touch of sugar and a ton of creamer. Lina just took her coffee black, never having been one to fuss with either ingredient. She didn't have to look to know how Ludwig would take his: two sugars and a cream, just like Gilbert.

The scent attracted Alfred and Ivan from wherever they had been hiding and Alfred got to the machine first, taking the last of the coffee for himself before plopping down next to Maia. "Aren't you freezing?' He asked the Georgian girl, who was wearing a tank top and shorts that were shorter than Lina would ever dare wear, and she shook her head.

"I survived a whole January in Siberia. I'm never cold." She bragged, leaning back in her chair.

"If I remember properly, all you spoke of the whole time was how cold you were, little one." Ivan added, and she glared at him.

"I never said that I wasn't cold then. I just said that I'm not cold now. All of that frostbite must've gone to your ears." Maia teased him, and to the surprise of everyone at the table, Ivan laughed.

"Ah, perhaps it has. Can someone get Raivis and Gilbert? I would hate to start without them." He worded his demands like polite requests, a habit that Lina had noticed over the past few days that she found both strange and endearing. Either way, it was a nice change of pace as compared to what she was used to.

"I'll get Raivis." Eduard offered, taking one more sip of his coffee before heading off towards his brother's room.

"And I will get Gilbert." Ludwig stated, doing the same.

Just as Alfred was about to say something about why Eduard couldn't have just gotten both of them, there was the sound of profoundly loud German swearing. Even though her German was rusty, Lina knew what was being said and it took all of her strength not to succumb to giggles. Even if she did hate both of them, there was something amusing about hearing someone call their brother a kitten-screwing sadist.

"At least waking up Raivis is quieter." Lina muttered to herself, a small smile on her face as she finished off her coffee.

"What are they even saying?!" Alfred asked, doing a worse job of trying to seem collected than Lina.

"Just calmly discussing puppies and power dynamics." Ivan interjected, a smile plastered on his face.

"I didn't know you spoke German, sir." The Lithuanian noted as her brothers returned.

"I don't. I only know the important words." Ivan shrugged and Lina decided not to ask why he had decided that those words were the important ones.

Raivis wasted no time sitting and closing his eyes yet again, trying to block out the angry German swearing. His hands were over his ears and judging by the movement of his mouth, he was either be praying or quietly exercising his very colorful vocabulary. Considering the time of morning and the giggling being emitted from Maia and Alfred, it was the latter. Eduard returned to his seat and continued reading, seeming unaffected by the noise.

Finally, the two brothers emerged. Gilbert was soaked, hair sticking to his forehead and glasses askew. She didn't know that he had glasses, but perhaps he just preferred contacts and didn't have time to put them in. Ludwig sat back down and nothing in his expression have even the slightest hint of anger. Gilbert took the remaining seat, rubbing his eyes.

"Hello, strangers. To those who don't already know, I am the awesome Gilbert Beilschmidt, and my brother is a-"

"We heard." Lina and Eduard both spoke at the same time, causing them to look at each other in confusion before shrugging it off.

"Now that we are all here and awake-We are all awake, aren't we, Raivis?-let us discuss the job." Ivan spoke softly as the young boy sat up, yawning before being offered the remainder of Eduard's coffee. He drank it happily as Ivan continued on, pulling some pictures out of a bag on the floor and handing them to Gilbert, who sat on his left.

"Look and then pass them around, da? Those paintings are _very _valuable and they have been missing for over 70 years. Lost when the Nazis took Paris, never to be found. Until last week. One of the higher officials in the Nazi party got these pictures, and moved to New York after the war. He took the Degas's with him. Then, last week, he died. His son offered to sell the paintings to a museum in New York. I believe it is called the Meet?"

"Met." Eduard interrupted, glancing over at him. "It's called the Met, short for the Metropolitan Museum of Art."

"Ah, the Met. Thank you, Eduard. Anyways, this clown Edelstein has offered to sell the paintings to this Met, along with the emerald necklace in the third photo. Also a very valuable emerald, one of the largest in the world. The other emerald is in an identical necklace that he has given to his fiancée. I have a client willing to pay good money for these back. They used to belong to his family. The original owner is long dead and at the time he was not alive, but Mr. Bonneyfoy wants them back none the less. He had offered me $100 million U.S. dollars for them, and he has agreed to pay for any resources we will need to do our jobs. I do not know how much $100 million is in the Euro, or in the ruble, but it is lots of money." He paused, giving the group time to digest this information.

Lina was handed the photos by Eduard and examined them closely. The two paintings were obviously Degas. Ballerinas, beautiful and elegant and dancing across the stage. Back when she thought stealing would only be a temporary part of her life, she entertained the notion of being a ballerina. Due to the fact that she couldn't keep meat in her bones if her life depended on it and that she had actually been good at it, her teacher thought that she could make it beyond the little Vilnius studio. The studio had a copy of a Degas hanging on one of the walls, and even as a child she thought it to be beautiful. These lost ones were even more so. And the emerald...it was captivating. Even in the photo, it seemed to shine. It reeked of wealth and looked to be spectacularly heavy. She couldn't imagine willing wearing it around her neck.

"Wait, so you're saying we're going to rob the Met?" Alfred asked, eyes wide.

"Yes." Ivan confirmed, as if it was no big deal.

"The Met. The fucking Met. We're going to rob the _fucking Met. _Holy shit." The American laughed hysterically. "I must be dreaming."

"I'm afraid that you aren't, Mr. Jones." Ludwig shook his head. "If you are, this is a strange dream."

"Alfred or Al, please. Mr. Jones is my father." He choked out between laughter. "I can't believe it. The fucking Met. We're going to rob the fucking Met."

"So long as they accept the offer, which I am almost certain they will, yes, we will be robbing the Met." Ivan confirmed for him yet again.

"If we pull this off, we're going to be legends." Maia added, a star-struck and distant look in her eyes.

"We already are. Or at least, I am." Gilbert put in his two cents as well as the coffee machine beeped again. No one moved to get another cup.

"How much money will we be getting? Individually, I mean. I may be a little bit crazy, but I'm not at the 'Rob the Met for free' level yet." Raivis interjected, causing his two older siblings to look at him as if he had surpassed that level into a new level called Ultimate Stupidity.

"Good question. Very good question. Each of you will get 3 million U.S dollars if this job is successful, which doesn't include what you'll get in your late Christmas presents." At the mention of this, he removed more things from the bag. It was all Manila folders and pieces of paper, but something told her it was much more than that. "I can not give them to you until the job is over, but I promise you will like them. In here is all that you have wished for. It's almost like I'm a genie, da?"

"So it contains that purse that Coach purse I saw in Nice last week?" Maia asked, a smirk evident on her lips.

"It contains your ticket to buy it."

That caused her some confusion, but she didn't have much time to contemplate it as Gilbert spoke. "If she gets her purse, does that mean mine contains beer that isn't weak American shit?"

"American beer isn't shit!" Alfred defended loudly.

"If you want it to." Ivan told him.

"What if you don't know what you want?" Lina questioned, ignoring the glances sent her way. "It's just a question."

"Then it's your way to find out what you want." He told her, a genuine smile crossing his face before being replaced with his usual false one. Hardly anyone at the table could tell the difference between the two.

"Okay. But how are we going to actually do this?" Eduard spoke to the important question, skipping the why all together. He knew what he wanted and why Ivan was dangling all of their hopes and dreams in front of them, and that didn't interest him. What he wanted to know was the how of the operation.

Silence fell over the table as they digested this question. "Um..."

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><p><strong>January 2nd, 2015<strong>

**Jones Estate, New York, United States**

**10:15 AM**

"What if we burnt down the Met? That might make it easier." Alfred suggested to Lina while they both searched for food, listening idly as Ludwig and Ivan debated the ventilation system and its uses in this operation.

"I told you, I'm not burning anything." She remimded, shaking her head at his idea.

"Fineeeeeeee." He whined, taking out a box of cereal and pouring the entire thing into his bowl.

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><p><strong>January 2nd, 2015<strong>

**Jones Estate, New York, United States**

**11:26 AM**

"Do you think if we stole something else from a bigger museum that no one would bother investigating it?" Raivis inquired.

"Rai," Maia began, sighing loudly. "There isn't a museum bigger than the Met."

"But if there /was/, would it work?"

"Probably not." She told him, and he pouted for half a second which caused her to laugh and pat his head. "A bad idea is better than no idea, though."

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><p><strong>January 2nd, 2015<strong>

**Jones Estate, New York, United States**

**2:39 PM**

"So, let's say that we let loose pigs and number them 1,2,3, and 5, and then let them loose in the meuseum, and while everyone is looking for pig number four and chasing 1,2,3, and 5, we steal the paintings and the necklace. Would that work?" Gilbert announced his idea proudly, smiling as though it was already confirmed to work.

"No." Ludwig said simply.

"Why not?" The albino demanded.

"Because that would give us less than three minutes to steal them." Eduard spoke up after not having said anything for two hours, putting his book down on the table and rolling his eyes at the idea.

"The mute speaks." Gilbert announced. "And he has a little bit of a point." He admitted that with a resigned shrug and a sip of beer.

* * *

><p><strong>January 2nd, 2015<strong>

**Jones Estate, New York, United States**

**9:58 PM**

"What if we don't steal the actual paintings or the necklace?" Lina said suddenly, observing the tired and frustrated faces surrounding her.

"What do you mean?" Maia asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes and yawning from the effort the day of thinking caused.

"We don't steal them at all. We replace them." She elaborated, waiting for someone to shoot down her idea like every other idea had been shot down before.

"Do you know a forger good enough to make these?" Ivan asked her, thinking that he already knew the answer.

He did not expect her to nod and say "I do. Two, actually."

"Who?" The question of who came out of no less than three mouths at once and was in the minds of all sitting in the Jones Estate.

"My friend Feliks can make the necklace in an hour, two hours at the most. And Raivis can make both of those paintings in a week." She said, gesturing to her younger brother.

"You can?" Alfred asked the smaller blond, who shrugged sheepishly and stared at the table.

"All of the fakes I've made before were never caught. Degas has a strange style, but with the right supplies and a week...I could do it." He confirmed, not lifting his gaze.

"So, it looks like we have a plan." Ivan said happily. "We start tomorrow."

Relieved smiles went around the table as they dispersed, finally able to relax.

* * *

><p><strong>January 2nd, 2015<strong>

**Jones Estate, New York, United States**

**11:11 PM**

"Did you come up with a plan?" The voice said over the phone.

"We did." The informant confirmed. "Fakes. A classic."

"And you have a plan to get me the real ones?"

"I do."

"Good. Do not mess this up." The voice said harshly before hanging up the phone.

The informant sat on their bed, looking at the ceiling. This job just got a lot harder for them.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: I'd like to take a minute to explain two things

1. Alas, I do not own Hetalia. I do own Maia, though. But not Hetalia. If I did, this would be canon and I would be a Japanese man instead of an American girl, which would be weird. Et je ne parle pas japonais.

2. Everyone so far who has read/favorited/followed/reviewed this fic is officially a total babe and I'm obliged to give you internet cupcakes, especially TheAwesomeMe128, the guest that reviewed twice, and the other guest who reviewed because reviews make my heart explode with joy.

Anyways, onto chapter three!

* * *

><p><strong>January 3rd, 2015<br>**

**Jones Estate, New York, United States**

**4:36 AM**

Maia Dadiani sat in the still-dark living room, staring out at the steadily falling snow. She hated this time of the day, how it wasn't quite night but still wasn't morning. It occupied some middle ground and anyone awake at this time certainly didn't want to be.

A perfect example of this was Ivan Braginsky, her boss of two years. He was pacing upstairs. She could practically hear the frantic planning that was going on inside of his head, and she actually could hear the rhythm of his feet on the floor. He was probably trying to figure out how he would get his team to pull this off. Or maybe he was thinking about that crazy family of his, with his father who was a great criminal mastermind and felt more like an insane movie villain than a real person and his older sister who was so shy and sweet that she either made Maia smile or feel sick and his even nuttier younger sister. She encountered all of them at one point or another, and with the occasional exception of Katya, she wished that she hadn't. Who knew, maybe he was thinking about something else entirely. Either way, people who paced their room at 4:36 in the morning would rather be asleep.

Maia didn't want to be up, either. After the end of the meeting, she curled up on one of the couches with two glasses of wine. There had been some odd looks when she started drinking and one outright protest from Alfred, but for a fifteen-year-old girl, she could hold her alcohol pretty damn well. Part of it was being Georgian and most Georgians held their alcohol better than your average bear and part of it was because she drank more than your average fifteen-year-old. After her drinks, she had turned on some American movie before falling asleep. Three hours later, she woke up to the excited screech of "Do _you _want to improve your sex life?" from a perky blonde with a southern accent before going in to a two-hour long infomercial about various types of dildos. If had been so humorous to her that she couldn't make herself turn it off, even if she was tired and would much rather go back to bed. Americans were so weird.

The commercial was nearing its end and Maia was a few instants away from falling asleep when she heard a different sort of footsteps. Soft, nervous steps that were hardly able to be heard, but they caught her ears anyhow. They were coming down the stairs and she flicked off the TV, interrupting the blonde mid-sentence before turning around to face the source of the noise. The figure walked down the stairs, seemingly unaware of her presence. Judging by the height of the figure and the security that they were alone, it was almost certainly Raivis.

"Well, hell-o." She said, elbows resting on the back of the couch and the blanket that had been wrapped around her falling down and landing soundlessly on the floor.

Raivis jumped at the sound of her voice, letting out a totally manly and not at all hysterical sounding shriek. Maia couldn't help but laugh, covering her mouth with her hands to try and stifle the sound.

"You scared me!" He exclaimed as he turned on a light.

"The sky is blue!" She replied in a similar tone, getting up from the couch. Raivis recoiled as if he had been hit, which caused Maia to shake her head. "Oh, don't make that face at me, you're breakin' my heart. I was _teasing_, Raivis, _teasing. _If I wasn't fond of you, I would have apologized. But wouldn't you agree, the sky is very blue at the moment."

"I suppose it is..." He replied, looking out the window as the Georgian turned on a few more lights. "A dark blue, though. Almost black."

"Mmhmm. My hair had highlights that color last April." She twirled a lock of her hair for emphasis before opening the fridge. "Do you want anything? I'm starving."

"Um...What's in there?" Raivis head for a bookshelf opposite the television, scanning it intently.

"Well, what sort of food are you in the mood for? I'm not going to suggested toaster waffles if you want ice cream." She noted as she glanced at all of the food. "Speaking of ice cream, I'm getting myself some of that."

As he grabbed a book from the top shelf, he nodded. "I guess I'll have some, too."

"Okay. Chocolate or vanilla?"

"Chocolate, if there's enough left." He reached for another book, one that seemed to be the size of a brick and twice as heavy.

"There's enough ice cream in here for a small army." She reassured as she got out the things she would need: bowls, spoons, an ice cream scoop, some sprinkles, and hot fudge. Maia prepared it as Raivis grabbed books that he then put on one of the tray tables.

"Thank you." He nodded at her as Maia put the bowl on the tray as well before sitting next to him and grabbing the blanket from the floor.

"No problem." When he sat down, she unfolded the blanket that had been on the floor and threw it over them. "Whatcha reading?"

"Um, this one is about French artistic movements throughout the ages, this one is about art in the late 19th and early 20th century, this one is a biography on Degas himself, and this one is about art lost in the World Wars." He explained and pointed to each book as he spoke about it, hoping that he didn't sound too lame or boring. Sometimes people looked like they couldn't care less when he even mentioned the word art, but she looked somewhat interested.

"And here I am wondering if I should binge watch Bollywood movies or go back to sleep." She chuckled as she started eating her ice cream, making a noise of contentment once she tasted it. "Go me, I make good ice cream."

Raivis took a small bite and then nodded. "You do." For a while, the pair ate their dessert in silence, just enjoying having company. It was nice not to be the only person awake at this time. Upstairs, Ivan's pacing was still audible.

Maia was not accustomed to silence, but she couldn't find a way to fill it. Words didn't seem to want to escape her mouth. Silence was uncomfortable, a thick and heavy thing that she didn't know how to deal with. But, despite its weirdness, Maia sort of liked it. It was strange and new, but pleasant in the fact that she'd never been still and silent for so long. She could actually think, something she normally avoided at all costs. She could hear her own thoughts, and she was disturbed because all she could think about was the prize she'd get after all of this, the material gains and going down in history as part of the crew that pulled off one of the biggest heists in history. Is this what her life boiled down to? Taking stupid risks for the chance of getting pretty dresses and pretty things said about her? Was she honestly so vain and insecure and materialistic?

Yes, she realized. I am that vain and insecure and materialistic. I am that bad. Then she looked over at Raivis with his nose in one of the books and he looked over at her too, and he smiled. It was a full smile, one that reached his eyes and he didn't shake or cower or cringe at all. He was so damn happy, the happiest she had seen him in the days she had known him, and she couldn't wallow in introspection and horrible realizations when he was smiling at her like that. She didn't know anyone who could.

"I'm gonna get something to read." She said, getting up and heading towards the bookshelf and picking one at random. What she grabbed was a thick novel entitled _The Count of Monte Cristo _and despite its size, she went with it. The longer the book she choose, the more time she could spend not thinking about herself. It only seemed logical to go with the biggest book she found.

Neither one of them could say how it happened, but when Maia sat back down, they ended up closer together. Over the hours, they drifted together and by dawn light Maia was asleep with her head on Raivis's shoulder and Raivis was reading absently with one arm around her shoulders. He couldn't sleep, couldn't breathe, couldn't do anything but try to read and think about how absurdly normal this situation was. They could have been any two teenagers in the world. If a stranger saw the scene, they'd think them to be just a normal pair of teenage lovers, not practical strangers and partners-in-crime. The thought made him want to cry. Wether it was from joy or sadness, he could not say.

* * *

><p><strong>January 3rd, 2015<strong>

**Feliks Łukasiewicz's apartment, San Francisco, United States**

**7:25 AM**

Feliks was awoken five hours earlier than he would have liked to be, which was totally not fabulous. Didn't people appreciate beauty sleep anymore? Seriously, he gets /one/ day off and some asshole decides to call him. He grumbled throughly before looking at his phone. It was Lina. Damn it, if it was anybody else (except Toris) he could have just ignored it. But no, it had to be the person he drunk called, like, all the time. He'd be a total douche if he didn't answer, so he did.

"Lina, babe, you know I love you. I love you so much. I'm madly in love with your cousin and you're possibly my best friend on the face of the planet, but that doesn't mean you can just call me like this. Do you know what time it is here? It's almost 7:30. That's, like, way too early." He complained as he rubbed his eyes.

"Sorry. But I have a job, and it's kind of big, and I really need your help with it." She spoke into the phone sheepishly.

"How big are we talking? Oh, and how did that Warsaw thingie go? Did the bears kill anybody? And did you wear that cute dress, you know, the one with the sparkles on it? It would have made convincing the circus master to let you see the bears a million times easier. Who knows, maybe he'd want to see something else~ It made you look super fucking hot." Feliks babbled cheerfully into the phone, irritation forgotten in his thoughts of more money and glamour. He wasn't deep into the world of thievery and heists, so he still found it to be enrapturing. It was so exciting and it reminded him of those prime-time TV action shows that he liked so much. Realistically, he knew it wasn't like that, but it was nice to dream.

"Thankfully, no one got killed, but-"

"Ugh, now I owe Raivis 10 euros. Shit."

"...I'm not even going to say anything about betting on the lives of semi-innocent people. But this job is big. Really big." Lina sighed into the phone, making a note to remind her brother about gambling with Feliks.

He rolled his eyes as he opened the curtains, looking down on the city. "That's _so _helpful, Lin. Seriously, gimme a frame of referance! Like, one to ten or something."

"On a scale of one to ten, with one being 'I lost a necklace and I need it re-made before anybody finds out' and ten being an episode of what you watch on TV, this is a nineteen." Lina decided that it was a pretty accurate scale.

Feliks let out a whistle of appreciation. "Giiiiiiiiiiiirl~! Get your cute little butt over here pronto and tell Big Daddy what you need. I'm in."

"What time do you have open? And please never call yourself Big Daddy again. Please."

"For a nineteen? Any time. Who's gonna come with you?" He told her, deciding that it was a good idea to wake up for the day.

"I'm not entirely sure. Alfred will want to, and Ivan will probably make one of the Beilschmidts come."

"You have to work with the Bellshits? God help you, girl." His affectionate nickname for the pair had been around for as long as Lina knew him, and it still made her chuckle.

"I'll need it. Oh, and before I go, how's medical school going for Toris? Last time I talked to him, he seemed stressed." It only seemed polite to inquire after the fate of her cousin, who was one of the fivd people left with the Laurinaitė/Laurinitis name. Plus, she was fond of her cousin. He was kind and sweet and helpful and generally a good guy.

"He's always stressed. He's Toris. He's doing super well, though. His grades are practically perfect and the patients love him almost as much as I do. He said to tell you hello and that he hopes that the gap-year he thinks your taking is going well." Feliks hated that Lina wouldn't tell him the truth about what she did, and he had been trying to get her to own up to what she did for a living for the past year.

"Tell him it is." Lina felt bad that he was lying for her, but she knew telling the truth would be worse.

"You're gonna have to tell him eventually. You know that, right? He isn't dumb, and it'll be ten times worse for both of us if he finds out on his own."

"I know. I'll tell him one day." She promised, lying yet again. She knew herself well enough to know that she would never be able to say it.

"Mmhmm. Anywho, I gotta get this place cleaned up. See ya!" He hung up the phone before she could reply and sat back down. Within instants of doing so, he ditched the idea of actually cleaning and went back to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>January 3rd, 2015<strong>

**Jones Estate, New York, United States**

**8:12 AM**

Ivan Braginsky woke up after a fretful three hours of sleep, not at all refreshed but ready for the day ahead nonetheless. He already had a plan of what needed to get done today that he had formed last night, and as he head down the stairs, he recited it in his mind. It went something like this:

1. Get in contact with Lina's contact.

He didn't know this person, but he trusted that they were good at what they did. Still, Ivan needed to check that they were trustworthy and wouldn't betray them, wether it be accidentally or on purpose. Once he was certain that this stranger was somebody smart enough to keep their mouth shut, he could send Lina and some of the others over.

2. Get Raivis everything he needed for the paintings.

Ivan's knowledge of paintings and their creation was limited, but he knew how to hand out money appropriately, and most of the funds he had set aside to finance this project were going towards the forgers at this point. (As a note, what he set aside for this project was a good quarter of what was in his bank account. His father had half-emptied it on an impulse to fund a communist group that wanted to revive the USSR, leaving him with much less money than he would have liked. The other three quarters went to bills, presents, and savings respectively) The forgers had the biggest part in this operation.

3. Get a tracking system set up.

Perhaps some of his father's paranoia had rubbed off on him, but he had a feeling that there might be something wrong here, something that could put the operation at risk. To make sure he could see any threats coming, Ivan needed to be able to track the less trustworthy members of the group as closely as possible. He knew it was creepy, but he needed access to their phone calls, text messages, emails, burner phones, blogs, whatever they had. Although he was going to have them put in the system as well, he only trusted Eduard and Raivis at the moment. They were children, and children were not manipulative or vicious creatures. They were not backstabbers, especially when their dreams were on the line, and he held their dreams in the palm of his hand. He was a child once, and so he knew that the dreams would trump any past allegiances they might have. He would get Eduard to set up the system at some point today. The Estonian was frighteningly good with technology.

4. Get eyes inside of the Met.

Ivan had never been in the Met, so he only had a distant idea of what its security was like. He needed someone to walk in there and tell him what they saw, what spots were problematic and what spots were easier to slip through. He needed to know every chink in the armor and every strong point so that he could get a plan on the table. There needed to be double checks, triple checks, tests on the cameras, background on the security guards, on the maintenance men, on everyone. There could be no surprises.

That was what needed to be done for the day. He knew who he wanted to do what and when he wanted it done. The day was planned down to the very second, and it was starting now. Ivan was surprised to see that Raivis and Maia were already downstairs. The latter was still fast asleep on the former's shoulder.

"Good morning." Ivan said pleasently, watching with mild amusement as Raivis turned around to face him, causing Maia's head to fall off his shoulder and for her to wake up with a startled shriek.

"G-good morning." The blond stuttered out, returning a shakier smile.

"Mmmm, why'd 'ou 'ave to do that, Rai?" Maia whined, holding her head. "Oh, good morning, Vanya." She waved lazily before getting off of the couch and taking the two empty bowls into the kitchen.

"I take it you two slept well?" He confirmed, his smile turning into more of a smirk.

"I take it that you didn't. I could hear you pacing literally all night." Maia rebutted, unsure if she should smirk or glare, and she was too tired to care which was proper.

"Sorry to have disturbed your sleep." Ivan apologized as she stumbled past, watching as she tripped over her own foot and then caught herself.

"Whatever. I'm going to get a shower, I smell like couch." She head up the stairs and Raivis resumed reading, hoping that if he hid in his book that nothing would be said to him.

Ivan chuckled, ruffling the boy's hair as he passed. "She is a charming little one, but dangerous. Like a snake. Be careful not to get bitten, da?" He advised as the sound of water came from upstairs. That woke up Eduard, who had the room next to the restroom. Within minutes, he was downstairs.

"Hello." Eduard greeted, readjusting his glasses.

"Hello. Sit. I have a job just for you two, but I need you not to tell anyone about it. Do you think you can do that?" Ivan gestured to the couch and Eduard sat down next to his adopted brother who looked up from his book.

"What do you need?" Raivis asked softly, beginning to feel concerned.

"A tracking system. This is a big job, and we cannot afford to have any traitors in our midst. I do not think there are any, but it is better safe than sorry, no? You two are good with computers, I know this. I have everything you need, numbers and email addresses and profiles and whatnot. I just need you to put it together. Can you do that for me? If you do, there is some good money involved." Ivan smiled at the boys, awaiting their answers.

"Yes, sir." They both said, and Ivan nodded.

"Good. When you're fully awake, I'd like you to start on that, Eduard. Raivis, I would like you to try and start on those paintings. Does that sound good?" The Russian did not wait for their answers. He left the living room without another word.

As Eduard turned on his computer and Raivis studied the photos of the paintings, the traitor listened. The traitor heard it all. The traitor knew that things were going to get harder again. There weren't any breaks when you played this game.

The informant called their boss from their burner phone. "They're onto something." They said and hung up before their boss could reply. They then promptly tossed the phone out of the nearest window and onto the street, watching it get run over by a car. It was better safe than sorry in situations like this, and the traitor didn't plan on being sorry for anything.


End file.
